Dr JGN Onyekpe.

JGN Onyekpe

Today is October 3 which is Day 10 of the new ultimatum.

It is obvious enough  that the federal government does not see the crisis in the nation’s  varsity system as its problem.

Therefore, All ASUU should  be prepared, ready, and set for total, comprehensive, and uncompromising action. This should be an action that would end all agitation and action, what is called in the historian’s craft or historiography “the war to end all wars”.

The  coming action, when declared, must continue until  all issues are resolved so the varsity system can have enduring stability. The federal government can afford to save its universities. It has the capacity to transform them from their present wretched conditions into citadels of learning and research qua citadels of learning and research. All that is required is the political will and commitment of the government.  This will translate into the redefinition of government focus and paradigm shift in fiscal appropriation.

Let me add: in the absence of accountability in public office and with the winner-takes-all values in politics, political administration, and governance, many past and present leaders have accumulated stupendous wealth lying hidden and waste domestically and in different countries of the world. One, two, or three of these ‘successful’ leaders can actually meet some of the needs of the varsities, for example, the sum of #1.3 trillion required for their revitalisation, as jointly arrived at in 2012 by the federal government and ASUU after the painstaking  assessment of their needs.

These “successful” leaders know themselves!

Why have they chosen to be mere spectators in ASUU’S battles? I wish they show comrades I am not a  naive daydreamer by standing up to be counted as friends and helpers of the nation’s varsities.

*J G Nkem Onyekpe, FHSN.